5 years in Okinawa! They say that time flys when you are having fun. I believe that this is true! I can hardly believe that it has been 5 years already. It feels like we just arrived last year. God has done so much in the short time we have been here and we are still loving it. Please keep us in your prayer, God is doing a great work and we are so blessed to be a part of it. May the Holy Spirit continue to lead, guide and direct our steps. God bless you all, Pastor Tommy.
We took the SOS group out for a day trip to the Castle Ruins and later to Ikei Island. It was a beautiful day out in the Son! We are finishing up our 3rd week of the SOS, I can hardly believe it. This is a great group of students.
Thursday night we invited Pastor Masaru, Pastor Tim and Pastor Rick (not pictured) for a get together at Pastor Tom's house in honor of Pastor Jeremiah (how many times am I going to write Pastor?). It was a blessed time with our wives too. Rick is not pictured because some important things came up and he was not able to meet us for dinner, but he was deeply missed. It was great spending time together and catching up on what has been happening. Please continue to pray for all of the Calvary's in Japan, through prayer we go forward on our knees.
Thursday was Deb Pallman's Birthday! So the ladies gathered together for a Tea time at Awase Golf Course. They had some good food and a great time of fellowship. It was a blessing that the gals were able to get together for this fun event. Happy Birthday Deb! May you always be blessed!
Wednesday night at CCGinowan was extra blessed with Pastor Jeremiah teaching the Word. He taught out of Acts chapter 1. Jeremiah has not been back to Okinawa in about 3 years, so we were happy to have him teach again. Yumi did an excellent job translating into Japanese.
The SOS students had a blast up in Nago at the Aquarium. It is the second largest in the world! There are actually 3 whale sharks on exibit. In the background of the picture is Ie Jima. We will be taking the students there for a 3 day trip in about 1 week.
Thursday afternoon the Boek's, Robb's and the Ruiz's went out for a buffet luncheon in Ginowan City. It was a good time just spending time in fellowship, food and fun. The Boek's leave for Tokyo soon, we are really going to miss them.
This past week we installed the ceiling fans in Pastor Tim's New Nago House. They look great! We also installed one in the kitchen. The rental agency will be putting in the A/C unit in the living room which will work out good to move more air around. Please continue to pray for this new work. Tim will start an English program next week.
Check out our great brother! It is so good to see Keegan back in Japan. In this picture he is spending some time with our friends in Tokorzawa. Great to see you bro. Hopefully you can stop by and see us here in Okinawa. We love you bro! For the rest of us, please leave a loving comment of our best buddy!
What can you say about the Secret Waterfall except that it is pure awesomeness! First you walk into the jungle which is just like walking into Jurassic Park. Giant ferns growing everywhere and it is cool because of the thick foliage. When you reach the waterfall all you want to do is just "jump right in". Most of the students climbed the walls and swung into the clean fresh water pool. Words cannot describe the fun, again, total awesomeness!
We got the whole crew together and we traveled for a fun day up North. We are here taking this picture up at Cape Manzamo. After this we went swimming at Nago Citizen's Beach. But this was just the beginning, our final destination; The Secret Waterfall.
Josh emailed and wanted everyone to know that he is doing fine. He misses us all, just like we miss him. I cannot give you a lot of details as you all know, but our brother is in the hands of the Lord. Please continue to pray for Josh, that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead, guide and direct all of his steps. God bless you brother!
Many of you remember Josh. Well he just graduated from High School, Praise the Lord! Great job brother! Please keep Joshua in your prayers, he will be attending CCBC Okinawa next semester, we are so looking forward to him being here.
Sunday afternoon Rob pitched his second game for his new team "Enagic" and posted his second win. He is pitching excellent (that was for you Sosimo). Everyone was so excited at his game, and the team handed out baseball hats for everyone! We were so blessed!
He was really getting into cutting that cake! It was a blessing to celebrate his birthday, CCGinowan style. Happy Birthday Diego! We are blessed to be able to celebrate it with you here in Okinawa.
It was awesome to see Andrew teaching in Japanese and Kayo translating into English. I believe this is the first time that Kayo has every had to translate a full message into English. They both did a fabulous job! Everyone was so blessed. Thank you both of you for being servants of the Lord.
The City of Chatan (Mihama Area) hosted an Okinawan Festival Saturday night. We went around witnessing and passing out tracts. Afterwards we settled down and watched the firework show (click on the picture and see the beautiful hibiscus firework). The show was amazing! It was such a beautiful night. Everyone had a blast.
We visited a natural underground spring in Okinawa that is famous for its folklore. As you can see in the picture we also traveled up in the jungle and visited one of the caves there. It was a beautiful place, we took a lot of picture, and got a lot of mosquito bites. It is ok, it was well worth it.
Satsukosan and Atsukosan blessed the SOS students by coming to the cafe and preparing a wonderful Japanese lunch for all the students; Cold Noodles and Tempura. Since we are in the middle of summer many Japanese/Okinawan's like to eat cold noodles instead of hot noodles. It was an outstanding lunch. Thank you again ladies, we were all so blessed.
From the plane to the restaurant. Since we were in Naha City, we took the Boek's to a famous restaurant. The best thing about this place is the food and the price. It is really reasonable. You can get a whole meal for $5.oo dollars. The place was packed! Many famous Japanese people eat here when visiting Okinawa, you can see their signatures on the wall.
Jeremiah and the Boek's (pronounced Beck's) are now here in Okinawa. It is such a blessing to have the whole family with us. They will be with us for 10 days, except for Cali (daughter) she will be with us until the 10th of August, she is joining in with the SOS group. God bless you Beck family, we are so blessed that you are here.
Daniel and Sosimo, I just want to write you guys and tell you how proud we are of both of you. You went to Korea to serve at CCDaejeon and did a wonderful job. Your lives have impacted all those who are around you and I know that they will never forget your love and support you gave to the people there. Daniel, your gifting is evident in the way that you lead worship and your willingness to serve. Thank you for stepping out in faith again with the recent retreat that you did. Sosimo, your giftings are evident in the way that you are always open to do whatever is told of you, be it cleaning, teaching the Word or just being a support to those around you. You both finished well in Asia and are a great example of what a missionary should be like. Even though you both were no longer with us in Okinawa we knew that you were still here in Asia (just around the corner) with your presence gone we are going to miss you both. There are still times that we make reference to you guys and the funny things that you did. Boy! We sure did have some great times here laughing our heads off! We love you both and miss you already! Again, thank you guys, your family back at Living Water are welcoming back two Men of God who arrive on the shores with the words "well done good and faithful servants". Words cannot really express how I feel at this time. Thank you for being men of faith willing to step out and see what the Lord would do! With deep love and fond affection, Tommy.
After classes we took the SOS students out for a day trip to Tropical Beach. We planned the trip for low tide, the perfect time to walk on the reefs. It is always fun reef walking because you see all the cool critters in the water. We were catching crabs and all kinds of funky creatures. Afterwards we went for a cool swim, a blessed day!
